Friday, January 25, 2013

The L5R 4e Resource Guide: The Way of Shadow & Midnight's Blood

THE L5R 4E RESOURCE GUIDE
The set-up of the new 4e L5R more easily allows the use of materials from
earlier editions and eras. That raises the questions: which of these products
should an L5R 4e GM bother picking up? Which of them offer new insights into
the pre-Clan War period (and beyond)? Which of them offer more universally
useful setting material? This series aims to answer those questions. Note that
I leave aside any and all mechanical material and questions for purposes of
these reviews.

THE WAY OF SHADOW
Once desktop publishing tools became relatively accessible RPG companies
struggled with the tension between cool, stylistic presentations and clarity of
material. Dark, encroaching page borders; heavy grey-scale or color watermarks;
and unique font choices made products stand out from the crowd. But they made
books harder to read. The
Secret of Zir’An remains the highwater mark for me- text overlaid with
silver iconography which obscured everything. White Wolf’s probably the best
known offender, but many games which grew out of that tradition took up the
worst lessons of them. Even TSR’s awesome Planescape line, one of my
favorites, could be tough to get through. AEG tended to keep a cleaner, simpler
design approach but from time to time fell into the trap of valuing cool design
over utility. Walking the Way is pretty bad in that regard, and The Book of the Shadowlands to a lesser extent. The Way of Shadow is the
last book in the early L5R line to really suffer from these problems.

The Way of Shadow is a campaign arc focused on what at the time would
have been an entirely new threat to Rokugan gamers. The 160-page perfect bound
volume contains four adventures & game fictions, plus an appendix at the
end covering The Lying Darkness. The majority of the pages are presented as the
journal pages of the magistrate Kitsuki Kaagi. These use a more script-style
font on a faux-scroll background. As with WtW this makes them harder to read
through, a problem since that’s about half the book. The cover art’s a little
weak- especially give how excellent the interior art is. That’s primarily supplied
by Ramon Perez, and his heavy dark lines fit the material. The writing’s solid
and evocative until it gets tangled at the end. GMs who don’t like game fiction
or in-world first person narratives will not care for this.

This volume was my first introduction to the Lying Darkness as it was for many
people. It parallels the addition of the Shadow as a main threat to the Empire
in the CCG, with the Jade Edition and the beginning of the Hidden Emperor
arc in mid-1998 (through 2000). We wouldn’t see much more detail on this foe
until the release of The Hidden
Emperor sourcebook in 2004. At the time, I wasn’t sure what to make of
this. Given that the CCG hadn’t finished deciding, this book could only provide
hints and partial informatio. It offers options but deliberately avoids
connecting the dots. In retrospect, modern players can see what the Darkness
was a about, and understand the context. At the time of publication it was more
confusing than illuminating: what did this foe want?

The Way of Shadow contains a campaign arc, but one without a definite
conclusion or victory. The collection begins with a brief introduction,
followed by four linked adventures- each with an introductory text drawn from
the journal of magistrate Kitsuki Kaagi. Interim texts from the journal provide
links between chapters. A sixteen-page section at the end presents more details
about the the Lying Darkness and the Goju. The adventures lean heavily towards
a Magistrate campaign. However, GMs could connect the players to the first
adventure with personal relationships or daimyo orders. The other stories
require the PCs to be in certain places, rather than connecting from the
previous episode (except for the last).

Death at Ichime Castle: A murder investigation, with the hints
about a family curse. This is a fairly clever plot, with a number of
interesting red herrings and colorful characters. There’s a minor intrusion of
a meta-plot element, Matsu Hiroru, that can lead players off course. The first
hints of the Lying Darkness appear here. It also offers difficult choices
socially- aiding the new daimyo or protecting a child. I’ve run this a couple
of times and like it. It could be run with the Shadow stuff removed, but that
might take out some of the atmosphere.

The Haunting of Hida Dasan: While there are connections between
this adventure and the previous one, there’s no “core clue” directing them to
it. Instead it is assumed that the players are passing through Crab lands. More
evidence of the Lying Darkness appears. Players have to investigate an unusual
haunting of the survivors of a battle.

The Disappearance of Lady Ninube: A crane has been kidnapped on
the way to her wedding. They find themselves in conflict with and pursued by
Goju ninjas as well. This is more of a chase/pursuit outdoor adventure. This is
a bloody adventure.

The Chase: Less an investigation than an episode, the players
find themselves pursued. It reveals a number of key facts about the Darkness,
including vulnerabilities. It also suggests the Unicorn are aware of the
Shadow, which doesn’t quite square with my sense of the history, but I could be
wrong. This sequence can be dropped earlier into the story; it doesn’t have a
fixed timeline. That does mean that there’s no capstone to the story- players
are introduced to the Lying Darkness, but the GM will have to decide how they
want to follow up from that.

The conclusion spells out many of the truths about the Lying Darkness, while
leaving some questions unanswered. It explains the connection to the Scorpion
and the Shosuro/Soshi, the nature of the Goju, the powers of the Darkness, and
how to handle this corruption.

Here’s the conceptual problem with the module’s set up. As I mentioned, the
extensive game fiction stories tell the story of the investigation from Kitsuki
Kaagi’s viewpoint. The connected adventures follow that plot exactly.
Essentially, it is the story with Kaagi removed and the players in his place.
The text states, “All you have to do is pull Kaagi (and his assistant Meilikki)
out of the story, and plug your characters in. Kaagi’s notes are meant to give
you hints on how to run the adventure, show you ways to introduce NPCs and
evidence to the characters, and give you a general description of the
environment.” Interesting and ambitious, but ultimately a little odd. For
example, the first adventure has 24 pages of journal text- effectively game
fiction. That's followed by just eight pages of actual adventure. It almost
feels like the scenario serves as an afterthought. For GMs not so keen on game
fiction or looking for value in page count, this will seem like filler. Could
the same adventure have been presented, with the same level of GM advice, in
another way? Could it have been done more tightly, allowing for more
adventures?

There’s also a break in L5R’s presentation style here. In earlier modules (City
of Lies, Tomb of Iuchiban) we have journals as handouts. These offer
player-facing materials the group can work through and explore as a complement
to the scenario at hand. That doesn’t happen here- in fact player actions
negate the existence of the very journals we’re reading. I wonder if another
approach might have had the players coming into contact with Kaagi’s
investigations and learning from them. If the players go through these
adventures as presented, then Kaagi effectively ceases to exist as a
significant NPC or concept.

Ultimately, the material feels like an L5R novel which ended up turned into an
adventure. That’s not entirely a bad thing, but does point to some of the
problems. The plot can feel more than a little linear- not Dragonlance
linear, but fairly constrained. It also means your reaction to the actual
campaign arc will depend on how much you enjoy the stories and the writing. For
my part, I like the early half of the material. Then it starts to move off into
the badly explained, with NPCs taking some of the autonomy, and real
limitations for the players.

OVERALL
If you like the concept of the Lying Darkness and are running in an era prior
to the Spirit Wars, you’ll find this useful. It certainly fleshes out and
expands on the section covering the Goju in Enemies of the
Empire. The stories here are interesting, but only one of them (the
first) really feels like is could be used outside the context of the Shadow.
The lack of a conclusion means GMs will have to figure out where they want to
go. Most PCs won’t let go of a threat like this once they’ve encountered it
repeatedly. Can it be defeated? Is there some way to offer a satisfying victory
against it? The Way of the Shadow is an interesting and unique
sourcebook. I recommend it for GMs of certain eras who don’t mind working with
game fiction as adventure set-up.

MIDNIGHT’S BLOODLegend of the Five Rings adventures struggle with the same problems that
face any rich and detailed RPG setting. Unless written incredibly broadly,
giving players a defined role, or taking place in a relatively restricted
space, some adventures won’t work for some groups. In fact I’d argue, the more
detail in a setting, the higher the chance of this. So you have some really
interesting Fading Suns campaigns, like Star Crusade,
that require the group to be explorers. Another example would be overseas Call of Cthulhu adventures with a more
classically “New England” group. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it
does mean work on the GM's part or skipping a cool module until a later
campaign. It pushes L5R GMs towards a more conventional 'wandering adventurers
style'- less beholden to a particular daimyo. Some of L5R adventures have that
feel. They offer a typical fantasy party, cloaked in samurai armor, in the way
they assume a certain freedom and mobility. The actual meat of these adventures
invokes the samurai atmosphere, but getting there’s another question. Both
adventures in Midnight's Blood have that "and then we travelled to X"
feeling.

Midnight’s Blood is the first of the “M” or High Magic series, focusing
on Shugenja and their talents. Not everyone has to be a Shugenja, but these
adventures involve a great deal of potent magic. This is also the first L5R
module to turn away from the classic booklet and loose cover style. Instead it
is a 48-page perfect bound product. There are no maps but there are reference
pages with images of all the NPC’s faces. The art’s generally decent; most of
the images could be copied and used as handouts- always a good thing. The
booklet contains two unconnected adventures. It has decent writing in both, but
you can tell the difference in the author’s voices.

Plague Upon Your Lands: This adventure comes from Jim Moore, also
a contributor to Fading Suns. It takes place deep in the Phoenix lands.
If the group has a Phoenix Clan member, especially a Shugenja, it should be
pretty easily to get them involved. If not, the book suggests having their
daimyo send them to investigate. That’s a little tougher, as the problem lies
in a plague known as Darkfever which the Phoenix clan are attempting to
control. Players without Phoenix connections will have a number of additional
obstacles. The book assumes the group has at least one Shugenja and likely
someone from the clan. It takes the group to the furthest south-eastern corner
of the Empire. That’s could be a problem or an opportunity to show off the
countryside to the group and the difficulties of travel.

The adventure has six major episodes, plus the introduction. The players have
little information on the Darkfever itself before they head out. Part One has
the group on the road to Kyuden Isawa. It echoes some of the ideas about the
difficulties and dangers of travel through the area (marks of the fever, wolf
packs, suspicious villagers). Part Two has the players arriving at Kyuden Isawa
which has been barricaded. People are desperately trying to get in, and the
players will have to get inside. The plot assumes the players will do this-
there’s little option for them if they do not. They need to research the
disease and speak with the Shugenja who have begun to look into it. There’s a
nice mix of scholarly and diplomatic challenges here. Unfortunately, there’s
also the very real possibility that key characters will have contracted the
plague, making it impossible for them to enter Kyuden Isawa. Part Three covers
the research and rumors- including a visit to the great Library. There’s some
flexibility about how the players will find information inside, but they pretty
much have to go there. And here’s the one problem- the players must make skill
checks, several of them to find the information they need. But they have to
find that in order to proceed. Beyond the mechanical weakness of that, there’s
the narrative problem that PC outsiders can come in and find the vital scroll
where others have failed.

Part Four has the players following their lead- heading out into the haunted
forest. Part Five leads them to the center of those woods and the fallen manor
which is the source of the fever. Both of these parts have more background and
history than actual play elements, which is a little weird. Part Six has the
group facing the Oni Lord who has begun emerged into this world. Of course, as
an added bonus the foe can only be hurt by certain kinds of weapons which the
players had better have thought to bring. Also, Shugenja who cast here will
have a massive increase to their difficulty. Even if they succeed with a spell,
they will increase the Darkfever. So despite this being an adventure about
magic, the Shugenja are effectively hamstrung in the key sequence.

The Lost Sword of Doji Yasurugi: This adventure’s written by John
R. Phythyon, Jr who also worked on one of my favorites Swords of
the Middle Kingdom. This adventure takes place at sea- in the Mantis
lands. This is the second time we’ve seen the Mantis featured prominently in
one of these early modules, though at this point in the line we don’t have a
sourcebook or rules beyond the basic school. This scenario spends a little more
time setting up the plot- especially important since it offers a richer mystery
and more than a little horror for the party. The PCs are assumed to be either
Magistrates working for the Emperor or agents hired by Yoritomo. There might be
a couple of other parties which could fit into the story, but it would be
tough. Basically there have been an alarming number of attacks on the shipping
lanes between the Crane and the Mantis. The players have to figure out the who,
why, and how to stop it.

The adventure’s broken into eight scenes of varying length. The party meets
with Yoritomo to get the background and core clue (again requiring an
investigation roll). There’s then a deliberate red herring set up by the group
behind the attacks. This provides evidence that the Crane are actually behind
the attacks. The PCs are put in an awkward position. If they think of a
solution, the GM has to prod them. Eventually the group gets out into the field
to a suspicious village. The stories and investigations can go in several
directions at this point. It gets nicely complicated and open ended. There’s
revelation about the lost sword which is a key element of the story. Eventually
the group will have to go out on to the water to face the pirates. They defeat
them, but then realize that there’s an additional wrinkle to the recovered
nemurani. This leads them to return the sword- which leads to a scene which
could be creepy, poignant, or frustrating, depending on how the GM runs it. The
story has lots of change ups- and the path doesn’t feel entirely linear. It
turns on conventions of history and honor. A party Shugenja is less critical here. The
high magic here is the presence of various ghosts; someone with knowledge of
the spirits wouldn’t be amiss.

OVERALL
The second adventure’s stronger and more interesting than the first.
"Plague Upon Your Lands" functions as a tour of the Phoenix
provinces, which may suit some campaigns. Some of the other story packs are
stronger, but this one is worth picking up. The elements are generic enough
they can function in most eras (with some changes in characters, like
Yoritomo).